


[Meta] On Listening

by fire_juggler_writes (fire_juggler)



Category: Meta - Fandom
Genre: On Listening, On Podfic, Other, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-28
Updated: 2012-09-28
Packaged: 2017-11-15 06:39:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/524219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fire_juggler/pseuds/fire_juggler_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>As I'm sitting here, thinking that it's been just about exactly two years since I first listened, I realized that my listening habits--what I listen to, why I listen, where and when I listen--have changed.  What I <i>get</i> out of podfic has changed.  What I look for in podfic has changed. </i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  <i>So this is a somewhat rambly account On Listening.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	[Meta] On Listening

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: You guys, you guys!!! I went to bed and woke up to not one, but TWO amazing podmetas of this meta!!! lunchee and reena-jenkins are both such awesome, amazing readers with totally different styles! I absolutely love being able to hear two different versions that bring out different aspects. So...instead of clicking the cut below, consider _listening!!!_ You can find Lunchee's [HERE](http://lunchee.dreamwidth.org/13302.html); reena-jenkins's is [HERE](http://reena-jenkins.livejournal.com/101311.html). Fandom is so AWESOME!

Thank you to klb for reading this over and helping me make it better ♥

It's odd.  I've just realized that it's at about this time, 2 years ago, that I discovered podfic.  I have no idea how I stumbled across it anymore.  I think I might have googled for it.  I've always been an avid audiobook listener and at the time, I was working at a job whose tedium accommodated hours and hours of listening to audiobooks.  I have vague memories of thinking that it would be _so great_ to be able to listen to fic the same way I listened to published books.  

At any rate, I stumbled across it _somehow_ , and well, I guess you all know that it started an instant love affair.  My intense obssession with podfic is a secret to none of my friends.

But, as I'm sitting here, thinking that it's been just about exactly two years since I first listened, I realized that my listening habits--what I listen to, why I listen, where and when I listen--have changed.  What I _get_ out of podfic has changed.  What I look for in podfic has changed.  

So this is a somewhat rambly account On Listening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I came to podfic from two perspectives.  First, I came to it with a _long_ history of listening to books.  Audiobooks were what kept my sister and me entertained on long road trips for summer vacation.  I can't remember a time when listening to stories was not a part of my life; it took two major forms: audiobooks/radio plays, and (of course) my family reading to me.  As I've grown, the audiobooks I enjoyed as a child have stayed in my collection and get brought out as old friends and my library is expansive.

Second, I came to podfic from the perspective of a fandom consumer and (largely) a lurker.  At the time, I commented rarely, participated in a few fic-finding communities, had a few rec lists, but didn't really have a huge amount of interaction with fandom.  What I mean to say is that I had a one-way interaction with _fandom_ and almost no interaction with _fans_.

I truly think that these two perspectives really worked together to inform my earliest experiences with podfic, because when I first started listening, I was looking for a _product_.  I was looking for "audiobooks of fanfic," which, while not a totally inaccurate definition of podfic, I now think is a vastly incomplete one.  At the time, the closer a podfic was to sounding like a professional audiobook, the "better" it was.  And there are a lot of podfics out there that could easily pass for professional audiobooks (and they are everything wonderful and fabulous, make no mistake).

In addition, my love of the audiobook (usually novels) combined with a job that allowed for long hours of listening, and a commute that was a lovely 45-minute bike ride each way on an off-street path, made me crave the long podfic.  The longer the better.  I pretty much wouldn't download a podfic shorter than 30 minutes and anything less than an hour was a "maybe" for me. 

So, in the early days of listening, I was looking for absolutely impeccable, long podfics (not unlike the way I was looking for impeccable long fics).  And that... that's changed.

Don't get me wrong.  It's not that I don't still love and adore those early podfics I listened to, because I do; they remain among my favorites, but as my situation and perspective have changed, my perception of what makes a "successful" podfic has changed, or maybe it would be better to say that it has _broadened_.

In March of 2011, I made my first podfic.  By the middle of the year, I was fairly active in podficcing in HP Fandom, and by the end of the year, I had moved a lot of that activity to Podfic Fandom.  I was _making_ things!  Not only was I making podfics, podfic recs, and podfic fests, but I was also making friends, both in HP Fandom and in Podfic Fandom.  My interaction with fandom stopped being one-way, and that switch made me start thinking about fandom in an entirely different way.  I was no longer looking for "products" to consume.  I was looking at the works of my friends.  I was realizing that people are creating things in fandom for _a lot_ of different reasons.  

A fanwork is not _necessarily_ the result of someone trying to make something as much like a published, professional work as possible.  It might well just be a fan saying "OMG! I have this idea and I'm going to write it down because I _love it!!_ "  Maybe they didn't _feel_ like beta-ing it.  Maybe "in-character" wasn't a concern for them at the time, because _that wasn't the point!_   Or maybe it was cathartic.  Maybe they lost someone, or were feeling lost themselves and needed to write it out, draw it out, knit it out, speak it out, sing it out.  

I realize that this is probably not an epiphany to anyone but me, but this perspective on fandom completely changed my perspective on fan _works_.  I realized that perfection and professionalism is not _necessarily_ something to strive for.  That a lot of different people are getting a lot of different things out of fandom.

This is a round-about way to get back to listening.  

Over the last year and a half, I have listened to _a lot_ of podfic, in _a lot_ of fandoms, by _a lot_ of readers.  And of those readers, a lot of them have become true friends of mine.  

And THINGS, I have learned them.

  * I have learned that there is almost no accent or cadence that my brain won't fully accustom itself to within about 7 minutes of listening.  That I need to give my ears and my brain time to get used to a new voice and a new style of reading.  I can't tell you how many podfics have become a favorite of mine that I thought I wouldn't be able to follow in the first 2 minutes, that I almost just stopped.  By ten minutes in, I was fully engaged. I've learned not to give up on a podfic.
  * I have learned that hearing the voice of a person I have communicated with only through writing invites intimacy.  I've had the pleasure of hearing the first podfics of quite a few people now.  People I have loved forever, but never heard.  I will never forget hearing teas_me and celestlyn for the first time, after being their friend for months. Hearing their voices, their accents has rounded out my perspective of them, made me feel closer, in much the same way seeing a photograph of them does.  It adds a dimension that makes my brain jolt, and click, and then settle into place in a brand new way.  That alone, is a true gift.
  * I have learned that for me, podfic is not about "the audiobook".  I mentioned that listening to stories has always been a part of my life, but I was wrong to think that the way podfic fit in was the "audiobook" way.  It really fit into the "family and friends reading to me" category.  It's more personal, more intimate than an audiobook.  And I think that part of that is because a person performing an audiobook was hired to do so.  A fan performing a fic is doing it because they love it, because they want to make a gift for a friend, because they want to support a cause, because they love the characters.  They are doing it because they want to share something that touched them with other people.  To me, this is far more akin to my sister racing down the stairs, waving The Westing Game and then curling up to read me the best parts.  When I am alone, or feeling blue, or just needing a friend, I don't reach for Ian Carmichael reading P.G. Wodehouse, no matter how funny and amazing it is.  I reach for [i'm not one for love songs](http://archiveofourown.org/works/375518).  Because hearing quintenttsy choking back (or failing to choke back) giggles is what I need.  I need my friend, curled up on the couch next to me, sharing her joy and her laughter and her voice with me.  
  * I have learned that I don't really care if there is a scratch hiss in the background, or the mic quality is a little sharp or a little muffled. As long as I can discern the reader, those incidentals become pretty much unnoticeable after several minutes of listening. I care far more about the emotional punch and the feelings than I do about the technical precision.  
  * I have learned, by necessity, that short podfics are a godsend, and though I still download the long ones, I rarely have time for them.  Sometimes I only have time for a 5 minute podfic, sometimes I only have the attention span for a 15-minuter, and I am ever grateful that people record them, because these days, long podfic is reserved for plane flights.
  * I have learned that podficcers, like any other fan artist, are doing it for any number of reasons, that they experiment and grow and change and improve.  That sometimes they might stumble a bit on the path, like anyone, but you know? I actually like listening to the stumbles, too.  I like hearing people try new things, and even if it doesn't go quite right, it's so interesting and fun to hear what people are trying.
  * Ultimately, what I have learned is that a successful podfic, for me, is not one that is necessarily close to a professional audiobook, but one that affects me emotionally, that gives me a new insight to a fic that I love, that introduces me to a fic I wouldn't have sought out otherwise, that introduces me to a new voice, that broadens my understanding of the reader, that cheers me up or calms me down. 

So, yes. My listening habits have changed. But the strange thing is that my external habits are pretty much the same. I still see something I'm interested in. I still download the podfic, and load it onto my iPod. I still listen when I can, every time I can get a free minute. It is my internal habits that have changed. When I listen, my brain is doing different things. 

I still love the perfect, flawless podfic. But it's not because it's perfect and flawless. Not really. It's about _the reader_. When I listen to one of them, my heart bursts with pride and joy at the unadulterated talent and commitment to their craft. 

I love and adore the "imperfect" podfics just as much as the flawless ones. I don't love them _in spite_ of their "imperfections". Those quirks have become a part of the podfic experience for me. They are the barely visible, smudgy fingerprints of the fan behind the fanwork. 

The ding of a cat bell is the fan living in a studio apartment, or who can't bare to shut their kitty out of the room, because KITTY NEEDS LOVE! 

The choked back giggles and smothered tears is the reader who is so overcome by what they are reading that it _wouldn't matter_ how many takes they did; the work just affects them that much. 

That weird hiss in the background is the podficcer who is sitting in the bottom of their closet, surrounded by shoes, trying to get the best possible sound, but can't silence their damned computer fan. 

That single repeated line is the busy mother, the tired student, the fan who is using each 5 minutes they have to spare to make the best thing they can, but things get missed, because LIFE. 

_All_ of these _make_ the podfic for me. These little glimpses into that person who is making a gift for fandom, just because they want to. Because they love it. 

Before, I listened for the story. I still do, but now, I also listen for the fan.


**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podmeta] Meta: On Listening](https://archiveofourown.org/works/527600) by [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




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